1. Whenever you request a web page, file or other resource from the Internet, your request carries information which can identify you personally. This information is available to the sites you visit, and can be matched to your real identity using your ISP's server logs.

2. An anonymous proxy server is simply a computer on the Internet which strips out these "identifiers" and replaces them with its own. A web site then sees your request as coming from the proxy server's IP address rather than your own. Result? Anonymity! Well, not quite...

3. There are still one or two problems. Firstly, some proxy servers do not do a very good job and still pass on your identity, and secondly, you can still be identified from the proxy server's own logs (if kept). On the plus side, at least you have made it more difficult for the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) or government snoopers to track you down, and why should they bother when there are so many idiots who take no precautions at all?

4. So what makes a good proxy? Well there are three important aspects. Firstly, the proxy server must be truly anonymous - for this we need a proxy with anonymity level between 1 and 3. Secondly, because some countries are well known for co-operating with Western LEA, we need one in a "friendly" country - usually Far or Middle Eastern. Finally, we need a proxy which works at a fast speed.

5. So how do you find a good anonymous proxy? The good news is that there are hundreds of anon proxies in our database http://www.checkproxy.com/checkp/database/.

6. Proxies can change and their efficiency can vary according to your own location and configuration so use a proxy checking program to check proxies before using.
Check Proxy Professional (HTTP)
http://www.checkproxy.com/checkp/
Check Proxy Professional (Socks)
http://www.checkproxy.com/checkpsocks/

7. There are two ways to check an anon proxy. One of them is to load it into your browser - configuration settings vary between browsers, but somewhere in your browser's options you will find a setting which allows a proxy server. The other is to load one or more proxies into proxy checking software such as Check Proxy Professional (HTTP) (http://www.checkproxy.com/checkp/). Run the checking software, pick one which looks anonymous and fast, and load that into your browser.

8. Now to see if it works for you. Go to http://www.checkproxy.com/cgi-bin/ProxyJudge/pj.cgi. In each case check the variables which are shown on the screen, and make sure that none of them points to your real IP address, only your proxy's IP address.

9. If all has gone well, you now have a fast anonymous proxy and can get out onto the web. If not, you will need to load another proxy and try again. Be prepared to run this sequence each time you start a browsing session.

10. Here is a good example of a proxy judge's results:

REMOTE_HOST=62.33.136.45
REMOTE_ADDR=62.33.136.45
HTTP_ACCEPT=image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-shockwave-flash, */*
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE=ru
HTTP_CONNECTION=Keep-Alive
HTTP_HOST=www.checkproxy.com
HTTP_USER_AGENT=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; MyIE2)
via - HTTP_VIA=1.0 INETGATE

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REMOTE_HOST
Result
IP Addr.
Comment
I have no idea because DNS lookup failure.

HTTP Env. Value
Result
Via a Proxy
Comment
Proxy servers valuable is detected.

AnonyLevel : 3

  So-so.